


Slipping and Sliding

by Tarlan



Series: Betty [3]
Category: Boa vs. Python (2004), Thoughtcrimes (2003)
Genre: Action, Drama, Hewligan, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-09-19
Updated: 2007-09-19
Packaged: 2017-10-20 17:38:13
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,245
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/215325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tarlan/pseuds/Tarlan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Four months after meeting Brendan, Emmett needs to take a sample from Betty, bringing him into danger.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Slipping and Sliding

**Author's Note:**

> Written for ANNA (from_the_corner)

Betty's enclosure at Area51 was far larger and contained a more natural habitat than her one back at the Longreen Snake Reserve and if the government had not acted in such an underhanded way to procure his snake, Emmett would have been reduced to phoning them and offering them both Betty and his services. As it was, even after all these months he was still caught between outrage and relief. Their method had left him trapped in Betty's transportation cage for the best part of a day and night as the useless agent in charge took his orders a little too far and tried to dispose of him permanently. Betty had not hurt him but Monica had not been so lucky, drowned where even her dolphins could not save her.

Relief overshadowed his outrage most days for Betty had outgrown her old home far quicker than Emmett had accounted for and he supposed that the reason for her flourishing so well had to come down to him. He had doted on her from the time she hatched, the only survivor of a four egg clutch. He had let her roam free within her enclosure for the most part, releasing small mammals and reptiles for her to feed upon so she could learn to hunt, but he had also fed her by hand through most of her life. She knew his scent as a provider of food rather than as food itself, coiling around him and rearing up to almost delicately take the writhing snakes from his hand before slithering off to hunt down the other food in her enclosure.

The expanse of the new enclosure was also its disadvantage. The smaller size of her old enclosure had made it easy to assess her diet and ensure she was getting enough to keep her happy and sated. He had always hand fed her the poisonous species of snake so that he never had to worry about being bitten by one that had escaped her attentions and a simple heat signature device showed where any warm bloodied animals were hiding.

Now, whenever he looked through the monitor into her larger enclosure, he sighed in frustration. No one knew how many poisonous snakes Fremont had released into the enclosure before he died for he had never kept a clean inventory of food and genetically enhanced snakes in his possession and had refused to tag them because of the potential waste of resources. It smacked of a less than professional attitude and Emmett wondered how the supposed scientist had gotten away with such shoddy work for so long. Emmett had always been meticulous in recording details, even weighing food before feeding Betty so he could monitor her growing requirements. Well, he could curse the now-deceased and consumed Fremont until he was blue in the face but that was not going to change the fact that he had no idea if Betty had eaten all the released food. Some could have escaped her, wriggling into holes that were too small for her to reach them, and they could have birthed live young that would simply add to the problems. After four months, there could be dozens of genetically enhanced Eastern Diamondback Rattlers in her enclosure.

At the time, it had left him with only two choices. He could have Betty re-housed temporarily while they cleaned out her habitat completely, capturing any surviving rattlers, or they could just hope for the best.

Emmett knew which option he preferred but persuading the project committee to fund the clean up was proving far more problematical than he had anticipated, and he could bet that another four months would pass before they finally saw it his way. However, in the meantime, he would have to be particularly careful whenever he entered her enclosure, ensuring he wore protective clothing, which was both annoying and cumbersome. Fortunately, Betty's sense of smell was keen enough that he did not have to worry about her mistaking his bundled form for some edible morsel.

He smiled. No, he could safely leave that for Brendan judging by the necklace of love bites that adorned his throat and one nipple. He would never have taken Brendan for a biter as that smacked of possessiveness, of wanting to brand him with ownership. Their relationship was still very new but, strangely enough, Emmett liked the idea. He liked knowing he belonged to someone, and not just anyone but Brendan.

Brendan was...different. He recalled things that simply amazed Emmett: snippets of conversations, places down to some of the smallest details, people names and faces. Nothing seemed to get by him, and Freya was...well, he knew Freya could read minds as both images and words now, and that made her a great partner for Brendan because he could share his thoughts and memories of a case with her. Hopefully, that was all he shared though Emmett had a suspicion that Brendan could not help slipping a few personal memories judging by the way Freya blushed whenever she saw him. She had smacked Brendan on the arm earlier, for broadcasting something embarrassing the moment Emmett joined them for lunch.

Of course, Brendan refused to tell him what she had seen or read but Emmett had a feeling it was something pornographic by the way Freya had blushed furiously, unable to meet his eyes. If anything, her eyes had dipped to his throat, her blush increasing when she, no doubt, spotted one of the love bites that peeked above the collar of his t-shirt.

Brendan had been particularly zealous last night, sucking and biting at every exposed inch of flesh, driving Emmett insane as thrust deep into Emmett's ass while his teeth latched onto his throat and refused to let go until both of them were howling in ecstasy. Tonight it was Emmett's turn though. Tonight he planned on turning Brendan into a feast, marking him with the same possessive passion, claiming his lover with wanton abandon.

He sighed. But first he had to take a fresh sample from Betty, and that meant climbing into the thick, protective clothing and braving the undergrowth and mud filling Betty's habitat.

"Are you ready, doc?" Pavane asked, and Emmett nodded to his assistant and the similarly dressed guard who would be watching Emmet's back and standing ready to haul him out if anything attacked him - other than Betty. If she attacked then nothing would save him but he placed his trust in her to be gentle with him, as always.

The laboratory door opened just as he was about to step into the containment lock between the lab and Betty's enclosure, and Emmett looked around and smiled in welcome.

"Thought I told you not to go in there without me until they've cleared all those rattlers out?"

"Don't you have a real job to do around here?"

"While I'm here, my job is protect my scientists' asses. You're have to forgive me for being a little biased towards one ass in particular."

Emmett grinned, knowing he'd just been complimented and insulted in the same sentence; he sighed, knowing he wouldn't be able to persuade Brendan to stay outside and nodded to the guard to stand down. Picking up his equipment, Emmett waited for Brendan to pull on the protective clothing and accept the Y-headed stick used for handling the more dangerous snakes at arm's length and pick up the large container holding a snack for Betty. Together, they entered the lock and then proceeded into Betty's domain. Emmett opened the container and grasped the snake behind its head, holding it aloft. He had to wait only a moment before Betty came slithering past and he let his ungloved hand slide along her back, feeling the soft, dry scales beneath his palm and fingers. She coiled around them and then reared up directly in front of Emmett, tongue flicking out to scent him before taking the large, squirming snake from his hand.

While she swallowed the tiny morsel, Emmett took the sample he needed and then stroked her again, crooning softly all the while to reassure her. She moved away afterwards, slithering towards the large pool area where she liked to soak half in and half out of the water, and Emmett followed, aware of his lover just behind him. After four months, he thought he had started to get used to the cumbersome suit but, suddenly, his feet were slipping out from under him as he reached the edge of the pool, and he landed in the soft mud a few feet down, almost in the water, unable to gain purchase in the slippery mud to climb back out. Brendan was there instantly, holding out the stick for Emmett to grab onto. His feet were stuck in the mud when he heard the distinctive rattle, too unbalanced to move out of danger. Brendan's eyes widened, his only means of protecting Emmett being used to stop him from falling back into the deep water right behind him.

Emmett could see if was one of the smaller rattlers, whose hiding place he had disturbed when he fell. It reared up almost level with Emmett's unprotected face. He was sinking slowly causing he rattler to become even more agitated by the movement.

"Emmett, when I tell you, you have to let go of the stick. Understand?"

Emmett nodded because it was the only option available. He just hoped Brendan was faster than a striking snake, quite literally.

"On three. One...two...THREE!"

He fell backwards when he let go of the stick, body hitting the water with a strange slap that stung the back of his head, feeling his feet and ankles protesting the sudden jolt from where they were still stuck firmly in the mud. Unable to free his feet, he couldn't keep his head above the water, feeling it close over his face. He pushed down beneath him but it was too deep. He needed air, starting to panic when he realized there was no Monica here this time to fill his lungs for him then, suddenly, he was being lifted from below and his flailing arms hit the familiar touch of Betty's scales. He could see Brendan dispatching the rattler and then reaching for him, dragging him out of the pool and up the two foot embankment where they both dropped to their knees in exhaustion. Betty slid past, snatching up the dead rattler.

"That's it...we're out of here, and in future, you're not moving more than three feet from the entrance until all those rattlers are gone!"

As much as it pained him, Emmett had to agree. Brendan drew one of Emmett's arms over his shoulder and wrapped the other around his waist, and together they staggered towards the entrance where the guard was already waiting to assist.

****

It was only a sprain but Brendan refused to let Emmett do anything alone. The shower had been interesting, forced to sit on a plastic stool with his bandaged ankle hanging outside the cubicle, wrapped in plastic to ensure it stayed dry. They'd shared a shower before but there was something less erotic but far more intimate having Brendan wet and naked beside him, helping to wash away the mud and smelly pool water from his body. Fortunately, Emmett had not swallowed any or he would have found himself a guest in the medical center overnight but the doctor was still concerned enough to check him all too thoroughly, with an order to return morning for similar tests until they were assured that he had not picked up any parasites or infections. Emmett could live with that but he knew Brendan was silently fretting. Once Emmett was clean, he fussed around him, drying him with a fluffy towel and supporting him to their bed.

"I'm not an invalid!"

"So I just imagined the set of crutches and the mass of pills he prescribed?"

"It's just a sprain." He held out his arms and Brendan crawled up onto the bed, sighing as Emmett held him close. Emmett let his fingers travel to the thick, dark hair. He'd had plans for tonight but his sprained ankle had ruined that, not that his dick agreed. That was hardening quite nicely despite the throbbing in his ankle, reacting the feel of Brendan's warm body plastered against him. He felt the rumble of soft laughter.

"Need help with that?"

A warm hand wrapped around the length of his cock, the frisson of pleasure drawing a moan of need in response.

"Lay back and let me do this," Brendan insisted, and Emmett groaned in answer, letting his body relax as Brendan worked his magic, his fingers knowing every stroke and twist that was guaranteed to bring Emmett hard and needy, poised on the edge of his climax for an eternity before taking him over the edge. He gasped into Brendan's hot mouth, letting his lover swallow his cry as the pain receded momentarily, consumed by the pleasure rushing through him. He barely registered the flood of heat against his thigh as he reached to reciprocate, until Brendan batted his hand from Brendan's softening cock.

"All taken care of, so close your eyes and sleep."

The pain and weariness of the day, coupled with the gentle climax, made it impossible to protest, and as he slipped into welcome sleep, Emmett smiled, knowing Brendan would still be curled against his side in the morning.

THE END


End file.
